On a warm summer day, five-year-old Patrick Cady was sitting on the edge of his seat alongside the North Reading (Mass.) Little League (NRLL) baseball diamond, enchanted by the exciting action on the field while only looking away to offer a warm smile to his nearby grandfather, Ed.
From their elevated vantage point in the clubhouse behind the chain-link backstop, with a Massachusetts District 13 Championship banner draped across the adjacent wall, the grandfather and grandson watched the NRLL pitcher go into his windup, then deliver a fastball to the right-handed batter from nearby Wakefield (Mass.) Little League as it makes contact with the bat.
Sporting a white Jimmy Fund hat, the centerfielder tracks the ball all the way to the wall to make the catch and fire a perfect throw to the plate. Patrick giggles at the sound of the ball slamming into the catcher’s mitt, and whether he and Cady realized it in the moment, the scene perfectly captures the essence of the Massachusetts District 13 Jimmy Fund Little League program.
Alongside NRLL board members like Joe Wells, Cady, and his grandson stepped up to the plate in July 2024, welcoming local families to the complex for 24 games as part of a two-day event in support of the Jimmy Fund, a charity based in Boston, Massachusetts, that offers more than 5,000 Little League Baseball and Softball players throughout New England the chance to continue playing after their regular season ends while raising funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Since its inception in 1986, the Jimmy Fund Little League program has raised more than $6 million for the institute’s life-saving cancer research and patient care.
As Jimmy Fund program director for NRLL, Wells cannot help but think about baseball when he thinks of the Jimmy Fund given its lasting relationship with the Boston Red Sox.
“We all are here to advance cancer research, for adults, too, but especially for youth with the genesis of the Jimmy Fund being Jimmy — a kid,” said Wells. “I think this program just works, especially during the summer. Sure, everyone is out here to get a few more reps. But you take it a step further, and every kid and every coach also know we are out here for this great cause.”
For Wells and Cady, the story of the Jimmy Fund Little League program cannot be fully told without a mention of the Berardi family. John Berardi is the Jimmy Fund Little League Program Director, as well as a longtime Massachusetts Little League District Administrator and current member of the Little League Board of Directors.
In 1987, John’s father, George, teamed up with Red Sox players Mike Andrews — future Jimmy Fund chairman from 1984 to 2009 — and Rico Petrocelli. Together, the trio created the Jimmy Fund Little League program with the idea of developing well-rounded citizens through Little League.
However, George’s vision has likely reached more people than he could have imagined. For thousands of New Englanders today, the Jimmy Fund Little League program is as synonymous with summer as Cape Cod sunsets and Maine lobster rolls. In 2023 alone, teams from all six states within the New England Region helped raise $275,000 to support Dana-Farber’s unrelenting commitment to striking out cancer.
Following in his father’s footsteps as director, John serves as a liaison between local league officials across Massachusetts and the Jimmy Fund. In his volunteer position, John connects baseball and softball families with breakthroughs in oncology research, dedicated Dana-Farber staff members providing exceptional clinical care, and courageous patients who are defying cancer every day.
John, who was presented the Jimmy Fund’s highest honor during an on-field ceremony at Fenway Park as the Boston Red Sox 2022 Jimmy Fund Award recipient, often works behind the scenes to help New England children and caregivers do their part to advance cancer research.
For Jimmy Fund Little League parents like Wells — the proud father of his 16-year-old daughter Lucy and 14-year-old son Harry — seeing Jimmy Fund Little Leaguers® step up to the plate against cancer makes hours of dedication and volunteerism worthwhile.
“These games remind us all that as long as our kids walk off the field knowing how to be a teammate, we as good parents have done our job,” said Wells.
This story was written courtesy of Matt Edwards, a 2022 Little League World Series Resident. To learn more about the Little League® program, and find a league in your community, visit PlayLittleLeague.org.